Multiple video cameras are often used in conjunction with the production of television and other broadcast programs. In many situations, such as the production of sporting, news or other broadcast programs, it is not economically viable to send large camera crews to cover events. One possible solution is to set up automated camera systems at the event's site to minimize labor and deployment costs. Automated camera systems typically capture video data, and process these data in real-time for use in identifying and tracking objects and actions on the field (e.g., such as tracking a player on the football field, etc.). Scene description data (“SDD”) are characteristic data used in such systems to allow the identification and tracking of such objects and actions. Some video cameras extract this SDD from the video being captured, and transmit the SDD along with the video stream to a central video processing unit (e.g., located at a local or remote broadcast production facility). The video processing unit analyzes the SDD from one or more video cameras, and transmits camera control data (“CCD”) back to each video camera to control the operation and orientation of each camera.
The use of such automated camera systems can provide a number of cost savings and efficiencies in broadcast program production. Unfortunately, however, many events that are broadcast are in locations (such as arenas, fields, etc.) that do not allow for cost-effective wired connections between one or more automated video cameras and a central video processing unit. For example, if a high school soccer match is to be broadcast, it is simply not cost effective to connect the camera systems to a video processing unit using cables (such as Ethernet cables). Such cabling often requires that conduit be run between the devices, and frequently, to be effective, the cabling and conduit needs to be buried so it is not damaged or does not interfere with the activities in the field. Therefore, it is desirable to connect one or more video cameras with one or more video processing units via a wireless connection. Because automated cameras require the ability to send both video data and SDD (and to concurrently receive the CCD), each of these data streams may compete with each other for wireless resources (such as radio channel(s), timeslots, etc.). Further complicating the allocation of wireless resources is the fact that video data, particularly high definition video data, requires substantial capacity for transmission.
It would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus to manage and optimize the use of such wireless resources, allowing the best possible video broadcast performance in situations where one or more video cameras are in wireless communication with one or more video processing units.